Former kidnap suspect’s fate once again held in hands of jury

Friday, July 27, 2001 | 10:47 a.m.

Twenty years ago Jerald Burgess awaited a jury's verdict in a high-profile child kidnapping case that would have put him away for perhaps the rest of his life.

Now, the 64-year-old Burgess who was acquitted at that previous trial but found guilty and sent to prison on unrelated fraud and sexual assault charges, hopes to again have 12 people clear him of wrongdoing. The six-man, six-woman jury in his federal firearms trial that started Monday began deliberations today.

Closing arguments Thursday afternoon by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ko focused on how the "unrefuted evidence" in the case points to two firearms and 800 rounds of ammunition being in Burgess' possession.

Burgess' attorney Bob Glennen, however, said the real culprit in this case is the outrageous conduct of the government. He said an ex-felon informant was used to entrap Burgess into the deal after he had been a law-abiding citizen for 12 years who had not so much as received a parking ticket. Burgess was released from prison in 1989.

"Do you believe Mr. Burgess is being framed?" Ko asked the jury. "It's shear nonsense. Common sense doesn't support the claim."

Ko said what Burgess testified to during the trial did not match what he said in surreptitious tape recordings made by ex-felon Franklyn Perry, who as an FBI informant posed as a middle man for retail outlets that could sell jewelry and other trinkets that were manufactured by Burgess and his wife, Phyllis.

On the tape recordings played for the jurors, Burgess appeared to be the aggressor, indicating he could obtain guns for Perry. Burgess claims in the many meetings he had that were not tape recorded Perry brought up the subject of guns and even threatened to cut off business relationships if Burgess did not acquire for him an unregistered handgun with illegal silencer.

According to court records, Burgess met a female undercover agent on June 22 at the parking lot of the Sante Fe hotel-casino. Burgess allegedly sold the agent a .22-caliber handgun equipped with a silencer for $700. Burgess was arrested Oct. 12 for providing Perry with a semiautomatic rifle.

But Glennen during closing arguments reminded jurors it was the defense that called Perry to testify, not the government that had used him but was not comfortable enough with his credibility to put Perry on the stand.

Perry recently was arrested on charges of running a pyramid scheme that bilked hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars. He testified this week in jail fatigues and shackles.

"Remember, who was bugging (tape recording) who to get guns?" Glennen said. "Mr Perry was begging to buy them." The FBI paid Perry $11,000, according to Perry's testimony, for his work.

"He (Perry) gets paid for producing," Glennen told jurors, offering a motive for entrapment.

In October, 1978, 6-year-old Cary Sayegh, son of wealthy business owners, disappeared from a local elementary school. Burgess, who led police to a spot where one of the boy's shoes was found, eventually was charged with kidnapping. He testified at his 1981 trial and was acquitted by a Clark County District Court jury.

The Las Vegas Sun, under late publisher Hank Greenspun, launched an investigative crusade to try to find Sayegh, who remains missing and has long been presumed dead. The FBI has reopened that case to find evidence that would lead authorities to Sayegh's body and potential murder charges.